Tag: my life principles

Learning the fundamentals of any skill requires practice and repetition. We know this. But the question is why? Why learn scales when you can’t just jump on YouTube and learn every song imaginable? Why learn to draw when I️ can just jump straight into illustrator? Why learn

Because the basics reinforce your creative abilities. The better you are at the fundamentals, the better at acquiring a higher level of skill and a greater ability of expression.

Life Principle #22: Master the fundamentals.

Building from the foundations up.

A skill is essentially a collection of micro skills. (Or meta-skills)For every skill, there is a subset of smaller skills that add up to the greater sum. Most people don’t really think about them when their learning, which is one reason why the majority of people don’t reach mastery in their crafts.

As well as the tools you use to design (Illustrator, InDesign, Sketch, etc)

Sure, the fundamentals might be rout, dry, boring, and monotonous, but they are essential. To become a high performer at what we do, we must master the fundamentals. Fundamentals become less boring when you realize the why behind them. When you understand how powerful they are at raising your game, you no longer feel bored, you feel like you have an unfair advantage.

Fundamentals make you razor sharp. (And fast too) There’s a huge difference between the work of someone jumps right into the deep end, and someone who has a mastery over the fundamentals. You’re lightning. You’ve ingrained the movements deep into your body and mind where you don’t have to think about what your doing, you just do I­t­, and make I­t­ look natural.

Fundamentals builds the foundations for high performance. If you want to be in the top percentile of your field, building up a toolbox of micro skills will get you further than you thought possible.

And having a grasp on the fundamentals allows you to break the fundamentals and create something new and exciting.

When I was in high school (and middle school) I had a really tight-knit group of friends. We were into making music, movies, jokes, making funny short videos, and being your typical, well-rounded goofballs.

I’ll never forget a video that one of the guys (Jonathan) stitched together from us jamming out and having a helluva good time. He set it to the song, I’ve Got Friends by the Manchester Orchestra. It’s like he intuitively knew our time in high school as a group was about to close, and we would be moving on to college and would never see each other as much as we did, every day, waking up at 6 am and hanging out at and around school.

I don’t remember the details, but I do remember the feeling it gave me, (and gives me every time I play that song)

I miss those moments we had and think about fondly on them.

Life Principle #20: See Change As Good

If you’re not changing, you’re not growing, and if you’re not growing your stuck in place.

Happiness and meaning are fluid — they happen on the journey, not the destination (put that on a poster and smoke it).

Change is good. Its the conduit that takes us from sad times to happy times (and sometimes vice versa). Change can lead to unknown adventures and wild places. It’s hard we were stepping away from something or people we love to follow a calling or jump into a new way of living, but you always have those collective memories. I always have those times with my friends goofing off in my room at my parent’s house (I’m tearing up thinking about it). No one can take that from you. (Another reason why health is vitally important too. A healthy mind is a more capable collector of memories)

I think we fear change for the same reason that we can love change: Because it breaks our status quo and leads to unknown, potentially exciting places.

The best part about change is we can make it. We have the power to change our minds, opinions, the direction in your life and more at ANY MOMENT. Usually, it takes a failure or painful experience to see that, but the power to change is always within our reach. Even small actions can lead to big change eventually.

Often times, you’ll face situations or setbacks you don’t want to be in. This is where change is not only good but can become your best friend. When you’re feeling stuck or have hit rock bottom, burnt yourself, or pulling your hair out because you’re at your wit’s end, it’s time to make some change.

Change starts with you. Be the change you want to see in your life and in the world. Break the status quo.And when change happens, be good with the new possibilities.

Learning to Ask

At a very young age, we go to school and have the opportunity to ask the teachers any question we might have about their class. When you’re younger, you don’t care — you’ll shoot up your hand and ask anything. ‘Why is the sky not purple?’ ‘What’s inside a ballon?’ ‘What’s a huckleberry?’

But somewhere along the way, most of us stop asking. Whether it’s not wanting to be embarrassed or bullied or not wanting to be labeled as a nerd, we stop asking and begin to fear asking.

If you think about I­t­, most schools are designed for answers, not questions, unfortunately.

After school, most of us take this fear into our adulthood. We fear standing out, yet desperately want to. We fear asking, but can’t think of anything else. We fear trying, because what if we fail?

But what has anyone gotten from not trying? Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing.

Questions are our North Star towards a meaningful life.Questioners rule the world. Become someone who asks great questions, and you’ll become someone who reaches mastery and creates an extraordinary life for themselves.

Life isn’t a solo adventure and won’t always be butterflies and apple pies. That’s why questions and asking are vitally important. When you learn how to ask for I­t­ — whatever I­t­ is — you take control of your life into your own hands.

Life Principle #19: ASK

You probably have something that comes to mind that you’ve been wanting to ask someone about, but haven’t quite got the nerve yet.

ASK IT.

Do I­t­ right now. Don’t let fear win again.

Let me ask you this, what do you get when you decide not to ask? What do you get when you let fear win?

The exact same thing you’ve got now — nothing. A bag of pennies and a fountain full of dreams. The worst they can do is ignore you or say no.

A ‘no’ is always better than a ‘what if’.

And if they do say no, GREAT! You’re building your asking muscle. But if they say yes, that changes everything doesn’t I­t­? I­t­ puts the power of change into your hands.

Making asking a daily practice in your life.

Practice asking for what you want. Ask for help. Ask questions. Ask for career advice. Ask someone out on a date. Ask for a raise. Ask for knowledge. Ask for a break. Ask for directions. Be curious. Like the old phrase goes, Ask and you’ll receive.

Each life principle from the Renaissance Life ebbs and flows. I­t­ comes with the territory of pursuing lifelong goals. Learning doesn’t stop after high school. If I­t­ does, you’re going to find yourself stuck with your hands tied. Being bold isn’t a one-time thing — it’s a lifestyle. You have to choose I­t­ every time you’re about to step into your discomfort zone. The same goes for health.

Health is vital to every aspect of our lives. From the energy you have, to the body you live in, to the mind you create with. Without health, we are living sub-optimally.

We know this deep down. That’s why it everyone and their grandma puts “lose 10 pounds” “exercise every day” or “eat healthy” on their New Year Resolutions.

Sometimes I’ll hear someone say, “food doesn’t affect me, I don’t get fat so I can pretty much eat whatever I want.”

I internally laugh slash roll my eyes every time I hear it. I used to be that guy. Don’t be like how I used to be.

What you may not realize is that health is a lot like credit.

Sure you can enjoy that fast food cheeseburger and milkshake today, but if you keep eating like that one day you’ll pay for it. The house always wins. You’ll start to feel a little pudgy around the waist, or worse — run into chronic diseases.

The same is true when you go out drinking. You’ll have a blast tonight, but one too many and you’ll pay for it tomorrow. (or eventually)

The key to vital health is deciding to make the change to live healthy, while not being too religious about it.

It’s downright impossible to be healthy 100% of the time, for your entire life. (If that’s what you’re doing you might want to consider living a little).

Life Principle #16: Optimize Your Health

1. Start by Making a Plan

Are you trying to be healthy or just saying so? Do you have chronic health problems that slowly eat away your ability to focus and have the energy to work on your dreams?

Then it’s time to make a health plan.

It doesn’t have to be a great plan, in fact, make it a mediocre plan! A mediocre health plan is better than no plan.

You don’t have to know what you’re doing to be able to start.When I️ made the decision to get healthy, I️ was clueless. You name it, I made every mistake in the book. But that’s okay. I wish I had someone who could train me, but if you stick with things long enough, you pick up on what works and doesn’t work for you.

2. Follow the Lead of Great Health Influencers

There is so much information out there its hard to know who to trust. And within that last sentence is the answer, don’t trust, test. The best health plan is the one that works for you. How do you know that it’s working? Do you feel incredible? Do you have bucket tons of energy? Are you in the best shape of your life? Sounds like you could give me advice then!

Find someone that seems trustworthy, and test their information for yourself. Try on their shoes for a month or three. If you’re not seeing results, drop it and try something else.

3. Share this plan with a friend

Pursuing health is 1000 times easier when you have a friend or group of friends wanting the same thing. If none of your friends are healthy, either recruit them on the health train or find a couple of friends who are on the same track as you.

4. Focus on Food and Fitness.

Food and Movement go hand in hand. You can do one without the other, but if you want to have an optimal kick-a life create a plan for both.

5. Make Health a Lifelong Habit

Don’t become a health prune. Its okay to accidentally eat a donut every so often. And if other people around you want to live off wingdings and greased tater tot casseroles let them. As much as I’d like to force my health choices onto others around me, that just doesn’t fly. It’s hard, if not impossible to tell people how to be healthy, especially those closest to you. The only thing you can do is show it — show how good eating healthy and exercising makes you feel. When you are a walking talking energetic ball of sunshine, they’ll start to wonder how you do it, and hopefully, they might get their courage up enough to say, I’ll have what he’s having.

You dig and you dig… and your hole get’s a little better (you know, more…. holy 😆)But digging is hard, and the sun is hot, and you’re thirsty and ooo look some seagulls!Why was I digging in the first place?

When you stop digging, sand immediately starts filling up your progress. Time and sea washes away all traces of your work. You worked hard but you let things slide.

When you’re pursuing a goal or learning a new skill, you’ve got to really dig deep to make it happen. If you try to pursue too many at once you’ll end up with a bunch of shallow holes, and hardly any progress on them.

To go for the gold, we’ve got to go deeper. We’ve got to choose our opportunities and relentlessly pursue them with all we got.

Life Principle #15: Go Deeper

I see a lot of influencers online who seem to be doing it all, but they didn’t start that way. The ones who have made something of themselves started with one thing, went deep on that skill, and then after mastering it expanded their circle to another avenue.

Ask yourself, how can I go deeper in my skills, in my relationships and in all aspects of my life?

How can I go deeper with my friends?How can I go deeper with my love?How can I go deeper with my family?How can I go deeper with my community?

How can I go deeper in my skills?How can I go deeper in my finances?How can I go deeper into my positive mindset?

How can I go deeper with my nutrition?How can I go deeper with my physical health?How can I go deeper with my relaxation and sleep?

Do you ever look at a homeless person and wonder what happened to end up where they are?

One time, when I️ was selling my boldsheep clothing at a Sunday market, my Gabriella and I️ somehow came to the conclusion I­t­ would be funny if she sat on the floor in front of my pop-up shop holding a cardboard box with the words ‘will sell shirts for $’ written in big bold lettering.

What happened blew me away!

No one would look at her.

Not even a glance. They couldn’t even take the time to read the sign to see I­t­ was a joke. Someone even called the market cops in!

We quickly explained the story.

I️ wonder if the reason we ignore homeless people is that deep down, we know that in a bad turn of choices and circumstances that could be us. (Either that or its because they always ask for drinking… er… I️ mean food money)

In the last couple years, I️ experienced a very stress-filled financial meltdown. Things weren’t working at work and essential I️ wasn’t making enough to live, WHILE I️ was going through some health setbacks. All that to say, my brush against finance chaos made me realize how important your values are, your support group (the people you are closest too), your mindset (what you think, and how you talk to yourself) and your willingness to let go and ask for help is. Without those four things, there’s not much that separates you from a nice home and good food, to no home and going to bed hungry.

This is an extreme example, yet true.However, finding yourself on the street might not even be the worst way to live. You could argue that going your entire life without knowing hardly anything about who you are and what you love is worse. I️ think I️ can speak for all of us when I️ say, being on your deathbed with regret, looking back at an aimless life in which you flutter from one thing to the next, with no rhyme or reason might be worse than death itself.

This is why defining your values is vitally important.

Life Principle #11 Define Your Values

Defining your values is identifying what you stand for and then standing for them.

What do you want in life?What matters more than anything to you?What makes you feel ALIVE?

Now take a good look at the life you are living today. The closer aligned your values of who you want to be and the way you live each day are direct cause and effect. Or in other words,

Show me your values and I’ll show you how far you will get in life.

The problem is, no one each us this shtuff. And if they try it’s so boring we never actually sit down and ask ourselves the most important question: Who do I️ want to be?

But not here, I️ like to keep us on our toes here at the Renaissance Life.So you know what that means…

It’s time to party. 🥂

Next time you have a chunk of time off, say when you get off work, or this weekend throw a party. Block off some time, put i­t­ on your calendar and make I­t­ mandatory. Who should you invite? You, yourself and you of course! (Buzzkill?) Seriously. It’s time to have a knockdown, drag-out, uncomfortable talk with yourself about who you are, and who you want to be.

Sit down with a pen and some paper. Have a list of questions you want to ask yourself. (Including the three above). Turn off your phone, Block all notifications and social media. Clean your house beforehand so you’re not distracted by your environment. Do whatever you gotta do to be alone for your party.

It’s going to be challenging, I­t­ might even be awkward, but it’s going to be worth i­t­ because defining your values is the most important thing you can do.

How many of us go through the motions in life, aimless, and hoping something good would happen. I️ say, let’s make I­t­ happen!

Imagine as if you were having dinner with your current self, your childhood self, and your future selves. Every action and choice you make today can determine your future self, so there might be a few of future you’s at this party.

Start with where you are:

What lights you up?If you could learning anything instantly what would I­t­ be?Where do you dream about living?What do you really think of your current job/school life?What kind of people do you love to be around?What did you love to do as a kid?How do you think about yourself? Do you defeat yourself with your mind before you even begin?How much time do you let yourself have fun on any given week?What are your current inputs? (TV, books, people, food etc)

And then ask yourself questions about who you would like to be:

What does my ideal job? What sounds like the greatest job to you?What would make me happier? What life would make my childhood self proud?What is missing?Am I️ letting fear win over courage?What do I️ want to master?Who do I️ want to know and be friends with?What kind of life would make my future self happy on his/her death bed?What are my strengths and how can I️ make them daily habits?What are my weaknesses and how can I️ turn them into opportunities?What would I­t­ look like if I­t­ was easy (This ones’ from Tim Ferriss)

The person you want to be is closer than you think. All I­t­ takes is a decision, this day, about who you want to be. I️ believe we are capable of change, and that change begins the moment we decide that we want I­t­.

Your values will change as you grow, they will ebb and flow depending on where you are in life. But your core foundations will always stay the same.For me, life principles are my defining values. Be a Lifelong Learner, Act Boldly, Live Boldly, Be Your Own Renaissance. These are the values I️ have and the life principles I️ aim for. I️ don’t always hit the bullseye, but I’m always aiming my arrow in that direction.

Knowing who you want to be makes failure and bombing easier. Failures change from cataclysmic my-life-is-over moments into stepping stones to opportunities.

Today is the day to choose to be different.See the change, take the leap.Whoever you think you are, you are correct.

Related Insights

“Here are the values that I stand for: honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values.” — Ellen DeGeneres

“I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.” — Michelle Obama

I’m bad about saying no to more things. More work, more friends, more knowledge, more impact — more more more.Wait a minute Josh, work, friends, knowledge… why are these bad?

The problem is more work doesn’t necessarily mean more financial peace, it just means your busy all the time.More knowledge isn’t bad until it squeezes things you already know and love out of your brain, by taking away your attention for what matters to you. More friends are great, except for the fact you can’t go deep because you don’t have the proper time to give to all of them.

Long story long, MORE stretch yourself thin, and without a laser focus, you’ll be doing a lot of things, but not accomplishing anything.

Success doesn’t fall into our laps, yet most go around living like it does.They wait for the rain to stop, they wait for their day to shine.

Change doesn’t either.

If you want an extraordinary life, you’ve got to put on your shoes and go LIVE like the worlds gone tomorrow.

Life Principle #10: Live Intentionally

It’s not the writing, nor the etching of the early 1900s. It’s the directionless characters, include the main protagonist Amory Blaine. Amory drifts through his life, knowing he can be somebody special, yet to lazy to try and figure out who he is.

How many people do you know go about their lives living aimlessly, with nothing guiding them except the direction of the wind that day? How many people do you know who are shut down completely? They spend their whole lives saying things, but never doing them, or jumping from one fling to the next, or from one TV show to the next, not because they care, but because that’s what they do.

They exist, but they are not living.

But not for us. If you desire to be or do something worthwhile its time for you to create radical change in your life.

To me, living intentionally is the ultimate form of awareness about yourself.Knowing who want to be is not enough, you must also be intentional about your habits, input and thinking to get there. When you know who you are, you know when to say Yes or No to opportunities and actions.

Should I go to Disneyland? Well, no because you don’t like rides (or happiness).Should I change careers? Well, you might want to consider it if you live for the weekends and your current job sucks the life out of you.

Be intentionally about the habits, friends, and life you choose.Because it is a choice.

When you’re younger growing up, I would sometimes here adults say something like, ‘You can be anything you want to be, you could even be president!’ And a piece of you believes it, and another says to keep your head down and make good grades.

But really it’s the Nonconformist’s who color outside the lines, break the rules of whats possible that rule the world.

There are people out there, right NOW, who make a living from podcasting. There are people out there who EVEN surf for a flipping living. People direct movies like Star Wars for a living! People sing for a living! Anything you want to do is possible!

Living intentionally is knowing you can make an impact and have fun doing it.

Related Insights

“You can go slow. Allow your dreams and goals to change, but live an intentional life.” — Kumail Nanjiani

“You don’t climb mountains without a team, you don’t climb mountains without being fit, you don’t climb mountains without being prepared and you don’t climb mountains without balancing the risks and rewards. And you never climb a mountain on accident – it has to be intentional.” — Mark Udall

Of all the principles we’ve talked about so far, persistence might be the biggest one.

How many poor fools have given up right before they were about to make it happen?

How many poor fools have given up right before they were about to make it happen?

In his wonderful little book, the dip, Seth Godin talks about when we should quit and when we keep pursuing. “Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers.” … “People settle. They settle for less than they are capable of.” … “To be a superstar, you must do something exceptional. Not just survive the Dip, but use the Dip as an opportunity to create something so extraordinary that people can’t help but talk about it, recommend it, and, yes, choose it.”

The biggest difference between those who can persist and those who can’t is the intention behind their actions.

Are you doing it for the money, the numbers, the fame, the power?

Or are you doing it because you love the craft?

There’s a massive difference between the results of those two ideologies.

Love what you do, and you will go further than you could ever imagine.

Life Principle #9 Keep Pursuing

The ability to keep going, despite obstacles, despite naysayers and go above and beyond what most people will try is a valuable tool to have in life.

Pursuit is not a mindless pedal to the metal, push yourself until you break or burnout. In fact, it’s the opposite.

Pursuit is a slow moving steamroller, paving the way forward. Sure there will be bumps along the way towards your dream life, but that’s okay, you know you can and will persist.

Taking the turtle 🐢 approach

Think about the classic tortoise and the hare story. It’s always the thoughtful, caring, and persistent turtle that ultimately wins the race.

But in life, we are both the turtle and the hare. A part of us wants everything quickly, now, ASAP, tomorrow’s too late… And the other part knows that we want to take our time and earn it. More often than not the hare wins out for me. But the more I take the turtle approach — slowing down, doing things right, focusing on quality, not quantity — things just work.

You may be one more action away from achieving your goals. Are you going to give up, or give it a try?

Related Insights

“You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead.” — George Lucas

“I believe each of us has a mission in life, and that one cannot truly be living their most fulfilled life until they recognize this mission and dedicate their life to pursuing it.” — Blake Mycoskie

“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“I am not the richest, smartest or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going.” — Sylvester Stallone

“I’m satisfied and proud of the things I did – even the bumps and the bruises that I’ve had on the way. You fall down, you get up, you brush yourself off and you keep going. And that’s what we’re doing.” — Gucci Mane

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” — Pele

Lifelong learning is the foundational principle of believing there is always room to learn something new and improve in things you love. When we start thinking we have nothing else to learn, we begin to plateau and eventually will feel stuck.

What you pursue is up to you! I love music, writing, design, entrepreneurship, connecting, ideas, psychology, and health and wellness to name a few dozen.

High performers know there is always the next level —

Someone who can teach you more and something new.Something you can practice to hone your skills.Even something you can create and experiment with to expand what you think, and what the world thinks is possible!

Mastery isn’t an end state; Mastery is a mindset. A mindset that begins with becoming a lifelong learner.

Now, there are two polar extremes that are easy to fall into, (believe me, I’ve been there) which GO AGAINST the learning principle:

This is a limiting belief that is holding you back. Perhaps a family member or teacher told you this (or implied it). They don’t know anything. They don’t know you. They don’t know what you are capable of. The person that creates your self-worth is YOU. I’m here to tell you, YOU ARE ENOUGH. If you get one thing from this post it’s that. You are enough. Learning isn’t about fulfilling a hole in your life of not being enough. Learning is the mutual belief that you are enough WHILE knowing, with a little bit of elbow grease, you can be more, do more and have a more impactful life.

In other words, learning is one of the keys to unlocking a meaningful life.

The more you know, the more capable you become, the more people will desire your help.

Pursuing a life of learning doesn’t mean it’s going to take you a lifetime to reach greatness in what you do. You will immediately start seeing results from learning and challenging yourself. Even a single day of learning means you know and are more capable than you were yesterday! Learning compounds by how much you practice and who you surround yourself with. The longer you stick with it the more you will accomplish.

So what does lifelong learning look like in practice?

Lifelong learning in practice

Read A Little Every Day.

Create a habit of consuming quality input of work from the wisdom of our ages. When I want to learn something new, the first thing I do is go to Amazon and see if there are any good books on the subject.

To piggyback on that idea, I think my biggest pain-points in life have been when I don’t follow my own principles.

Anytime I️ don’t make time for creativity and learning I️ start feeling anxious and crazy. Anytime I️ say yes to mediocre and unimportant things or when I️ say yes too much at once my life implodes. When I️ give into fear instead of being BOLD, when I️ fall into a mental rut and go numb because of a setback or failure, or when I️ don’t put in the time for friends and family — I️ suffer. I live in a suffering mindset instead of a successful mindset. My mind paints the world like nothing ever works out and I should just go lay down and take a nap.

We all define success in our own ways. The key is to make sure your life aligns with your definition.

The most defining moments of your life will what you do with failure and what bold actions you decide to take.

I would have never learned just how vital our body is unless I hadn’t broken it by spraining my neck a few years ago.

I would never be doing the work I’m doing if I hadn’t sought out opportunity and challenged myself with action.

Don’t go out and fail on purpose, or risk your life frivolously.

Live by what your heart is telling you. When setbacks happen — and they will — be the better person you’ve always wanted to be.

Action Question:

What are my most defining moments in life so far?

What do I normally do when I fail? How can I fail better? How can I master the art of failing forward?

What do I fear? What is making me uncomfortable? What bold actions do I need to take?

Related Wisdom:

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” — Albert Einstein

“Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.” — Wayne Huizenga

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” — Johnny Cash

“Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles.” — Jawaharlal Nehru